Gunmen have kidnapped around 100 people, including women and children, in two weekend attacks in Kaduna state, residents and police said on Monday.

Kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransoms have become an almost daily occurrence in Nigeria, especially in the north, with authorities seemingly powerless to stop them.

Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan confirmed the incident in Kajuru Station village on Sunday night but could not give a figure on those missing. He said security agents had been deployed to rescue the villagers.

Tanko Wada Sarkin, a village head, said 87 people were taken.

"We have so far recorded the return of five people back home who fled through the bush. This attack makes it five times that these bandits are attacking this community," he told Reuters by phone.

Residents said armed men dressed in army uniform arrived in the village undetected because they had parked their motorbikes away from the village.

Aruwa Ya'u, another resident, said he was captured but released by the gunmen because he struggled to walk due to poor health. He was receiving treatment at a local government clinic, he said.

Gunmen are known to force-march their victims deep into the bush, holding them for up to months while awaiting ransom payments.

The abductions come after an armed gang seized 286 students and staff from a school in early March in Kuriga in Kaduna state and gunmen seized 61 people on March 12 in Buda community.

In Dogon Noma, another community in Kajuru local government area, gunmen abducted 16 people from their homes in an attack on Saturday night, residents said.

Local resident Daniel Shamang said they had not heard anything from the abductors or the missing villagers.

Kidnappings at schools in Nigeria were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram, who seized more than 200 students from a girls' school in Chibok in Borno state a decade ago.

But the tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs without any ideological affiliation seeking ransom payments.

The kidnappings are tearing apart families and communities who have to pool their savings to pay the ransoms, often forcing them to sell prized possessions like land, cattle and grain to secure the release of captured loved ones.

Reuters

Netanyahu agrees to send Israeli officials to Washington to discuss prospective Rafah operation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with Biden administration officials a prospective Rafah operation as each side is looking to make “clear to the other its perspective,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The agreement to hold talks about Rafah came as Biden and Netanyahuspoke Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House. Sullivan said the talks will happen in the coming days and are expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.

The White House has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack.

Sullivan said Biden in the call once again urged Netanyahu not to carry out a Rafah operation. At the coming talks, he said U.S. officials will lay out “an alternative approach that would target key Hamas elements in Rafah and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground invasion.”

“The president has rejected, and did again today, the straw man that raising questions about Rafah is the same as raising questions about defeating Hamas,”Sullivan said. “That’s just nonsense. Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake. It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally.”

The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections. They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.

Biden hasn’t endorsed Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a “good speech” that reflected the concerns of many Americans. Netanyahu raised concerns about the calls by Schumer for new elections, Sullivan said.

Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support an operation in Rafah without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians. Israel has yet to present such a plan, according to White House officials.

Netanyahu in a statement after the call made no direct mention of the tension.

“We discussed the latest developments in the war, including Israel’s commitment to achieving all of the war’s goals: Eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never (again) constitutes a threat to Israel — while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that will assist in achieving these goals,” Netanyahu said.

The Biden-Netanyahu call also came as a new report warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation. The report came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a partnership of more than a dozen governments, U.N. aid and other agencies that determines the severity of food crises.

Netanyahu lashed out against the American criticism on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

Netanyahu told Fox News Channel that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and he denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

Even as they express frustration about aspects of the Israeli operations, the White House acknowledges that Israel has made significant progress in degrading Hamas. And Sullivan revealed on Monday that an Israeli operation last week killed Hamas’ third in command, Marwan Issa.

“The president told the prime minister again today that we share the goal of defeating Hamas, but we just believe you need a coherent and sustainable strategy to make that happen,” Sullivan said.

Biden after his State of the Union address earlier this month was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic ally that he has told Netanyahu they would have a “come to Jesus” meeting over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. His frustration with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war was also on display in a recent MSNBC interview, in which he asserted Netanyahu was “hurting Israel.”

“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden said of Netanyahu in the MSNBC interview. “But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He’s hurting ... in my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

The president announced during his State of the Union address that the U.S. military would help establish a temporary pier aimed at boosting the amount of aid getting into the territory. The U.S. military has also been air-dropping aid into Gaza.

The Biden administration resorted to the unusual workarounds after months of appealing to Israel, a top recipient of military aid, to step up access and protection for trucks bearing humanitarian goods for Gaza.

The five-month war was triggered after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack, rampaging through communities, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking around 250 hostages.

Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructivemilitary campaigns in recent history. The war has killed over 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population faces starvation.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

China to boycott Ukraine peace talks without Russia – Politico

China will boycott the talks to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict unless Moscow will have a seat at the table, Politico magazine reported on Monday, citing officials familiar with the matter. 

According to Politico, the message was “amplified” during Chinese Eurasia envoy Li Hui’s European tour earlier this month. During his March 7 trip to Kiev, Li met with Andrey Yermak, chief of staff of President Vladimir Zelensky.

Ukraine will likely be discussed during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to China next month. Chinese President Xi Jinping will then travel to Paris in early May and meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Politico said.

The South China Morning Post reported this month that Li told EU officials that a potential peace summit cannot turn into “a conference that produces a plan that is pushed down the Russians’ throat.” 

Unlike many Western countries, China has refused to blame Russia for the ongoing conflict and stressed that the fighting can only be stopped through diplomatic means. In 2023, Beijing unveiled a 12-point roadmap to a peace settlement, urging both sides to de-escalate. Kiev has since rejected the Chinese proposal.

Ukraine insists that a tangible peace can only be negotiated on Zelensky’s terms, which include the withdrawal of Russian forces from the “illegally occupied” territory of Ukraine. Moscow has rejected this demand as a non-starter, stressing that it will not surrender Crimea and four other former Ukrainian regions that joined Russia after holding referendums on the matter.

Meaningful negotiations between Moscow and Kiev effectively broke down in the spring of 2022, with both sides accusing each other of making unrealistic demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently said that Ukrainian negotiators had initially agreed to some of Russia’s terms, but then abruptly reneged on the deal. 

Kiev’s lead negotiator David Arakhamia revealed in November 2023 that his team’s main goal was to “buy time” for the Ukrainian military.

Switzerland has proposed to host a major peace summit sometime this year. However, no specific date has been yet set, and no list of potential participants has been revealed. 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian shelling kills four family members in Russia's Belgorod, governor says

Four people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of the village of Nikolskoye in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Monday.

Gladkov, writing on Telegram, also said that air defence units in his region had downed eight airborne objects late in the evening. There were no injuries but falling debris damaged roofs on industrial sites and homes.

In his account of the shelling deaths, Gladkov said that the victims - a couple, a grandmother and a boy of 17 - were killed when their house took a direct hit. He said a girl survived and was in intensive care.

Attacks on Belgorod have taken place frequently since 2022, but escalated in recent months, with 25 people killed in a single incident in late December. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in Russian attacks.

On 27 February, Nigeria’s National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja opened a continuing education course for judges. The opening featured an address by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, who invited the participants to eschew “unethical conduct that could expose the judiciary to ridicule.” Beneath his text, it seemed as if the Chief Justice desired to warn the participants to stay away from interfering with a brief that he has chosen to make entirely his own. Under his watch, judicial appointments in Nigeria have become corruptly farcical.

The fortnight before this address, it emerged that the CJN’s daughter-in-law, Oluwakemi, was at the top of a list of 12 nominees to fill judicial vacancies in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In the preceding six months, he had also appointed his son, Kayode Jr., as a judge of the Federal High Court; elevated his nephew, Lateef, to become a Justice of the Court of Appeal; and made his own blood brother, Adebayo, the auditor of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which he chairs in his capacity as the CJN. With this CJN’s retirement from office due on 22 August, the concerted effort to anoint his daughter-in-law to the bench would presumably showcase his credentials for gender equity within his family. Let’s not digress though.

That these appointments have occurred when they did is no coincidence. They are spoils of office for the CJN. Nor is it any coincidence that the same list that proposes the CJN’s daughter-in-law for appointment as a judge of the High Court of the FCT also contains the names of the daughters of the Chief Judge of the FCT, Hussaini Baba-Yusuf; and of Ariwoola’s predecessor in the office of the CJN, Ibrahim Muhammad Tanko.

As a federal institution, however, section 14(3) of Nigeria’s constitution requires that appointments to the High Court of the FCT “shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.” If these nominations in favour of the children of the Chief Judge of the FCT and the CJN were to be implemented, then their respective states, Kogi and Oyo, will have three judges on the bench of the court while a state like Ebonyi would have none.

It requires no original insight to understand that this kind of outcome is hardly compatible with the requirements of Federal Character. Sadly, the senior judges who are supposed to protect this high constitutional value are the people willfully endangering it.

Last month, Azubuike Oko, a lawyer from Ebonyi State, sued, accusing the CJN and the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court of unconscionable insider-dealing in judicial appointments. In response to the suit, the CJN and his satrap in the FCT High Court did not bother to confront the serious allegations levelled against them. Instead, they sought to disqualify Oko from litigating the issue by arguing that he lacked the standing to sue, claiming, contrary to a long line of relevant jurisprudence, that he had not suffered any personal injury.

On 15 March, the Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Inyang Ekwo, upheld these shameful objections by the CJN and the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court. According to the judge, in order to establish standing to question this high racketeering in judicial office by the two officials responsible for stopping it, Oko needed to show “how the appointment being considered by the defendants has affected him as a person…. This, he would have done, by showing that he applied to be considered by the defendants for appointment but he was ‘routinely excluded and marginalised.” How he was supposed to show this in a situation in which the CJN and the heads of courts who work under him will not allow a fair and credible process of judicial recruitment, only the judge can tell.

This is the latest in a line of cases in which senior judges use their offices to steal judicial appointments for their children or mistresses and then use lower court judges to make it legal. In 2020, the Justice Reform Project (JRP), an entity comprising several Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), sued to restrain former President, Muhammadu Buhari, from going forward with the appointment of 21 persons to the bench of the High Court of the FCT who, according to the JRP, “failed to meet the mandatory requirements under the NJC Procedural Rules.” That round of hires, like the latest, was bounty for judicial insiders. On 30 September, 2020, Okon Abang, then a judge of the Federal High Court, ruled that the “JRP lacked the legal right to challenge the NJC’s actions and that the National Industrial Court and not the Federal High Court was the proper court to approach as it was an employment-related case.”

The appeal by the JRP against this judgment has been pending since 24 November, 2020. Meanwhile, for his efforts, Abang got elevated to the Court of Appeal in October 2023 along with the nephew of the Chief Justice.

The JRP are not the only SANs openly scandalised by what the CJN and his colleagues are doing with judicial appointments. In January 2024, seven SANS from Kogi State sued the State Chief Judge, Josiah Majebi, and the Kogi State Judicial Service Commission, alleging egregious perversions in the nominations into high court vacancies in the state, including the nomination of a wife of the then outgoing governor of the State, Amina, whose only claim to the nomination appeared to be her marital relationship with the then incumbent in the office of the Governor. The SANs effectively claimed that the effort by the Chief Judge of Kogi State and the Judicial Service which he chairs, to nominate Amina Bello as a judge of the Kogi High Court was meant as a parting gift to the state governor, who was term-limited, making it clear that this was not a lawful or relevant factor in the exercise of powers of judicial appointment.

While this case is pending, the NJC has suspended the process of appointment of new judges in Kogi State. In neighbouring Edo State, however, the appointment of new judges is suspended by the ego of Governor Godwin Obaseki. In June 2023, the NJC approved the appointment of eight new judges to the High Court of Edo State. Over eight months later, the Governor has refused to consent to their appointment or to swear them in. Adaze Emwanta, a former Commissioner in Governor Obaseki’s Cabinet, sued late last year seeking to compel the Governor to formalise these appointments.

A manifestly unwilling Governor Obaseki has chosen instead to use the case as his excuse for refusing to appoint them. While the case pends, these judicial nominees waste. Because they have been nominated as judges, they can no longer undertake legal work to subsist or earn. But because they have not yet been formally appointed as judges, they cannot be paid in that role. In effect, Governor Obaseki does more than merely choose not to appoint them as judges. He has chosen to destitute them and ruin their lives.

While all these scandals unfold, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), under the presidency of Yakubu Maikyau has chosen the path of eloquent silence. The president of the NBA is a member of the National Judicial Council and he is entitled to nominate three other representatives of the Association into that body. For the record, the stated motto of the NBA supposedly is “promoting the rule of law.”

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a lawyer, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I’ve always thought that promotions were largely based on how hard you worked, or how long you’ve been at a company. While those two qualities may play a role in someone moving up the corporate ladder, I recently learned that bosses often look for something more subtle as the deciding factor.
I chatted with Bill George, a Harvard Business School executive fellow and former CEO of health-care company Medtronic, who told me the top traitleaders look for when considering employees for a promotion is someone who guides and inspires their team.
People who “focus on doing an outstanding job in leading [their] team” are in the best position to get promoted, George says. Great employees don’t boss their co-workers around — they excel at building trust with the people around them, which requires a certain amount of self-awareness to achieve, he adds.
You can build that self-awareness by reflecting on your strengths, getting feedback from your manager and co-workers, and using those takeaways to hone your skills as a leader, Juliette Han, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist, told CNBC Make It in 2023.
The more self-aware you are, the more “your leadership will be authentic and people will naturally want to associate with you,” George wrote in his 2022 book, “True North: Emerging Leader Edition.”
With this in mind, I plan to be more proactive about contributing new ideas at work and building intentional relationships with my colleagues. Making time for coffee and conversation with your peers is difficult, especially with a stacked schedule, but according to George, these connections are crucial.

CNBC

Federal Government is in talks with the World Bank to complete the processes of obtaining over $1bn loans to address the challenges facing Internally Displaced Persons and their host communities, as well as bolster rural access and agricultural marketing in the country.

The request is contained in World Bank documents titled, ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project’ and ‘Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project – Scale Up.’

While the IDP loan is put at $500m, the rural access and agricultural marketing project loan is estimated at $550m.

According to the documents provided on the bank’s website, the IDP initiative is meant to improve access to resilient and inclusive basic services and economic opportunities for IDPs and their host communities in displacement-affected local government areas in the northern part of the country.

The Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project, estimated for an appraisal date of February 11, 2025, and slated for approval on April 8, 2025, represents a targeted effort to improve the lives of millions affected by internal displacement due to conflict, violence, and climate challenges.

The Washington-based lender added that the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning would act as the borrower for Nigeria, while the National Commission for Refugee Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons and the North East Development Commission are the implementing agencies.

A breakdown of the funding showed that $30m was proposed to be spent on the project management and support for the implementation of the national policy while $120m will be expended on community development, income-generating opportunities, and social cohesion.

Also, strategic investments for climate-resilient economic development will gulp $320m and $30m on strengthening state and LG institutions for improved service delivery.

The document from the Washington-based lender read, “The proposed project will utilise a three-pronged approach to develop sustainable solutions for IDPs and host communities in Northern Nigeria. First, the proposed project aims to provide tailored solutions for each of the targeted states and communities, recognizing that each internal displacement situation is specific and localised, with conflict, violence and/or climate challenges presenting a different level and set of vulnerabilities for host communities.

“Gender, age, and special needs of individuals also play a role, as well as the length of displacement, number of times displaced and other factors. Thus, responses will be adapted to address the specific needs of vulnerable populations within displacement-affected states and communities. Second, the proposed project will follow a “People-in-Place” approach, integrating the needs of the people and the impacts on the place where they settle.

 “Project activities will aim to improve the provision of infrastructure and basic services as well as livelihood opportunities in an integrated way, moving beyond capital investments to supporting operational improvements and sectoral reforms, and fostering income-generating opportunities within host communities.”

According to a review by a World Bank team, Northern Nigeria, especially in the states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, has experienced the highest numbers of internally displaced persons.

This is primarily due to the ongoing conflict involving Boko Haram, as well as other factors such as banditry and conflicts between farmers and herders, leading to the displacement of over 3.5 million people.

Borno State alone hosts nearly 1.7 million IDPs, which is over a quarter of its total population and almost half of the total IDP population in Northern Nigeria.

The bank said “Nigeria is considered an FCV country and has one of the largest and fast-growing populations of internally displaced persons in the world, as a result of conflict and natural events. In Northern Nigeria alone, conflict and violence have led to the displacement of over 3.5 million people.

“Over 65 per cent of IDPs in Northern Nigeria are in the NE region (approximately 2.3 million IDPs as of June 2023) 5 and 95 per cent of them are in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (the “BAY states”). Borno, which has been the epicentre of fighting involving Boko Haram since 2014, hosts the highest number of IDPs of any state in the North, with nearly 1.7million IDPs, representing over a quarter of the state’s total population and almost half of the total IDPs in the North.”

The bank added that the inflow of IDPs had put additional pressure on already strained and obsolete infrastructure and services in the host communities highlighting that, “In Maiduguri, IDP inflows have put serious pressure on water supply and sanitation infrastructure and services already under strain before 2014. Due to the inflow of IDPs, daily solid waste generation increased from an estimated 390 tons to 570 tons per day. Solid waste management in Maiduguri is insufficient, with over 60 per cent of residents lacking access.”

The situation is further compounded by the weakening of poverty reduction efforts due to the conflicts and increasing climate shocks, making Nigeria one of the countries with the largest and fastest-growing IDP populations worldwide.

The World Bank’s intervention through the requested loan aims to mitigate the effects by fostering economic opportunities and improving access to basic services, thus contributing to a more stable and prosperous future for IDPs and their host communities in Nigeria.

The recent development suggests that Nigeria’s debt could rise further.  It is understood that most of the current foreign loans had been initiated under the former administration of President Muhammed Buhari, Nigeria’s total debt as of the end of September 2023 was N87.91tn, according to data from the Debt Management Office.

Breakdown of this debt revealed total external debt as N31.98tn ($41.59bn) and total domestic debt of N55.93tn.

In June, the international financial institution approved the first loan of $750m for Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu’s government to boost the country’s power sector through the Power Sector Recovery Performance-Based Operation. The loan is financed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which would provide $449m, and the International Development Association would provide $301mn.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, recently said that the Federal Government was in talks with the World Bank for a $1.5bn loan to support the budget and provide liquidity in the forex market.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government is on the verge of securing $500m loan from the World Bank to bolster rural access and agricultural marketing in the country.

The new loan project, with an estimated appraisal date of July 16, 2024, is expected to receive board approval on November 28, 2024.

According to information obtained from the bank, this initiative dubbed the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project – Scale Up, is designed to bridge the gap between rural communities and the broader marketplace, facilitating smoother access to agricultural markets, schools, and hospitals and promoting social cohesion among rural populations.

Although the project is estimated to cost $550 million, the World Bank is offering a commitment amount of $500 million. The new commitment amount is 79 per cent higher than the initial World Bank commitment amount of $280 million for the parent project.

The Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development is designated as the lead coordinating body, with support extended by various State Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, including those focused on Works, Environment, and Women’s Affairs.

The RAAMP-SU project aims to enhance the infrastructural and institutional framework necessary for developing, maintaining, and managing Nigeria’s rural road network with implementation planned to begin in the fiscal year of 2025.

The RAAMP-SU initiative extends the scope of the original RAAMP project to encompass additional states previously omitted due to fiscal constraints resulting from inflation and currency fluctuations. Its primary focus lies in enhancing connectivity and bolstering transport infrastructure, aiming to establish direct links between rural communities and crucial agro-logistics hubs, as well as essential social amenities.

The scale-up emphasises not only the physical construction of rural access roads but also the institutional fortification through the establishment of operational Rural Access Road Agencies and State Road Funds, the implementation of Road Asset Management Systems, and the enhancement of road safety management protocols.

Moreover, the project is expected to boost digital outcome monitoring, skill development for rural road management, and the creation of gender-targeted opportunities, reflecting a comprehensive approach to rural development.

With a previous World Bank funding commitment of $280m out of a $575m total project cost, the fresh funding seeks to escalate the project’s impact from 19 to all 36 states of Nigeria, heralding a new era of rural development and agricultural efficiency.

W’Bank seeks funding

Meanwhile, the World Bank’s International Development Association is seeking a record financing haul to tackle mounting debt and climate crises.

A report by the Financial Times on Sunday said that there was an urgent need for increased funding to tackle the twin challenges of spiralling debt and crisis caused by climate change.

Head of resource mobilisation at the bank, Dirk Reinermann, emphasised the urgent need for the International Development Association to secure its “most substantial replenishment ever” in financial resources.

This replenishment is crucial to facilitate the provision of affordable loans and grants to 75 developing countries.

According to the report, Reinermann did not specify a target, but IDA during its last round of fundraising in 2021 raised about $23.5bn from donor countries. That sum was raised to $93bn after tapping capital markets.

A wave of sovereign debt crises and costs related to mitigating the effects of climate change will require big increases in development funding, analysts said, at the same time as elections and cuts to aid budgets limit the spending appetites of IDA’s biggest donor nations such as the US and UK.

 “Some of its biggest traditional donors have stuff going on that makes it harder for them to cough up larger amounts [for IDA],” said a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development think-tank, Charles Kenny.

IDA, which has $235bn of total assets, is seen by governments and policy groups as one of the most effective aid providers in the global fight against poverty, both because it can leverage capital markets to triple its annual windfall and give those funds to poor countries at concessional or marginal rates.

The fund “offers good value for money to donor countries, more than other grant-based facilities”, said a principal research fellow, Annalisa Prizzon, at development think-tank ODI.

IDA has to turn to richer countries to raise capital every three years because its assistance generates little financial return.

Many countries that face a debt crisis will have to pay back more to existing lenders and bondholders than they will receive in new loans. China, a major bilateral creditor, has stepped back from lending, reducing another source of funding for IDA recipient countries.

“Because of the macroeconomic environment, more countries are in difficult economic situations, meaning that they get IDA funding at concession [rates], requiring IDA to deploy more strategic capital,” Reinermann said.

According to Reinermann, this increased line of funding is set to cause IDA to reach the leverage ceiling imposed by its triple-A credit rating sooner than expected.

When IDA raised donor money in 2021, “the zero point for being able to fully leverage our capital at triple-A was in 2034,” he said.

Punch

At least 14 people have been reportedly kidnapped by gunmen in Dogon Noma community, Kajuru LGA of Kaduna state.

The gunmen were said to have invaded the community early Saturday morning before abducting the locals.

Condemning the abduction on Sunday, Usman Stingo, lawmaker representing Kajuru at the Kaduna house of assembly, said the community has been under constant attacks by bandits.

“The bandits invaded the community on Saturday at about 5:45am and kidnapped 14 people while one person was seriously injured,” the legislator said.

“The attacks on our community have been persistent since 2019 and there seemed to be no end.”

The lawmaker said the government has not shown the political will to end gunmen attacks and abductions of villagers.

“If the government has the political will to end it, soldiers will clear the bandits from their hideouts in the bushes within a few days,” he said. 

“In 2019, the bandits killed 71 people in just one day. In 2022, they abducted 28 people in the community after killing 32 people in one day. We had to pay the ransom with difficulties.”

The north-west state has experienced frequent attacks and kidnappings by gunmen in recent times.

Last Monday, bandits abducted about 61 persons in Buda community under Kajuru LGA of Kaduna state.

On March 7, over 200 students and pupils were kidnapped after bandits attacked Government Secondary School Kuriga, Chikun LGA of the state.

In February, six people were killed when bandits invaded Kwasam community, Kauru LGA of Kaduna.

Zakariya Markus, a retired director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was abducted in the attack.

The Cable

Netanyahu snaps back against growing US criticism after being accused of losing his way on Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed supportfor Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.

Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends, Netanyahu said: “I think that’s something for the Israeli public to decide.”

The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn’t seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.

The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

The Israeli delegation to those talks was expected to leave for Qatar after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for negotiations.

Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he would not back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas attacked southern Israel, killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage.

Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said calls for an election now — which polls show he would lose badly — would force Israel to stop fighting and paralyze the country for six months.

Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation.

“We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” he said. The operation is supposed to include the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, but it is not clear how Israel will do that.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have “grave repercussions on the whole region.” Egypt says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability.

“We are also very concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after meeting with el-Sissi.

And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, warned that “the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: No matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?”

Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and, given memories of the Holocaust, often treads carefully when criticizing Israel.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in Washington for St. Patrick’s Day, said during a White House reception that the Irish people were “deeply troubled” by what’s unfolding in Gaza. He said there was much to learn from Ireland’s peace process and the critical U.S. involvement in it.

Varadkar said he’s often asked why the Irish are so empathetic to the Palestinians.

“We see our history in their eyes. A story of displacement, dispossession, and national identity questioned and denied forced emigration, discrimination and now hunger,” he said.

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, said that the prime minister’s comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame if Israel doesn’t achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.

“He’s looking on purpose for a conflict with the U.S. so that he can blame Biden,” Pinkas said.

Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel’s war against Hamas. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel’s closest ally.

But pressure also comes from home, with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against Netanyahu’s government and calling for a new election and a deal for the release of hostages. Large parts of the Israeli public want a deal, fearing that hostages are held in poor conditions and time is running out to bring them home alive.

Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the U.N.

Airdrops by the U.S. and other nationscontinue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way.

“Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two, three other entry points into Gaza,” chef José Andrés with World Central Kitchen, which organized the tons of food delivered by sea, told NBC.

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Israel says Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths because it operates in dense residential areas.

The Health Ministry on Sunday said that the bodies of 92 people killed in Israel’s bombardment had been brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 130 wounded, it said.

At least 11 people from the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and an Associated Press journalist. The body of an infant lay among the dead.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO has boots on the ground in Ukraine – Putin

It is no secret that NATO soldiers are present on the ground in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, noting that those service members are facing extremely grim prospects.

Speaking to his supporters and reporters on Sunday night after the end of the presidential election, which he won by a landslide, Putin stressed that Moscow was well aware of the US-led military bloc’s push to deploy troops in Ukraine.

“We hear both French and English speech there. There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they die there and in large numbers,” he said.

He also weighed in on a potential full-scale conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that it could not be ruled out. “Anything is possible in the modern world… But everyone knows that this would be one step shy of a full-scale World War III. I don’t think that anyone is interested in that.”

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested last month that the West “cannot exclude” the possibility of sending soldiers to aid Ukraine. Later, he also described Russia as an “adversary,” insisting, however, that Paris is not “waging war on” Moscow.

Commenting on Macron’s remarks, Putin noted that while NATO troops in Ukraine are expected to act as an auxiliary force, helping Kiev train its military, “this is not much different from what mercenaries are doing there now.” Russia, he added, wants France not to escalate the conflict but to help find a peaceful solution to hostilities.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russian missile attack kills one, injures 8 in Mykolaiv

A man was killed and at least eight people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said, after an overnight strike on Odesa on the last day of Russia's presidential election.

Mykolaiv's regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram that said there had been two strikes on Mykolaiv from the same direction as the strike on Odesa, adding that a man born in 1974 died in hospital and the injured included a girl born in 2013.

Ukraine's ministry of internal affairs shared images of damaged houses, wrecked or burnt-out cars, including one with a pair of abandoned shoes and other damaged items strewn on the ground alongside its open driver's door, and rescue workers helping people leave the scene and dousing a blackened car.

"Police found an injured girl with shrapnel wounds who was given first aid on the spot and taken to hospital," the ministry said on its Telegram channel of the aftermath in Mykolaiv.

Separately, the Ukrainian military said Russian air attacks had damaged agricultural enterprises and destroyed several industrial buildings in the port city of Odesa.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 16 drones and seven missiles and 14 drones were destroyed over the Odesa region.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of election sabotagewith days of strikes on Russian infrastructure, one of the most sweeping air operations on Russian territory since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

RT/Reuters

Last week, we read how the signs are not looking good for a nation like ours that wants to be reckoned with internationally. We concluded by asking the federal government to look at ways to reduce the cost of governance and the unimaginable take-home pay of political leaders and redirect the excess towards production. And we emphasised that we must become a productive nation that eats, drives and wears what it produces.

We also exhorted anyone genuinely interested in the welfare of workers, and of Nigerians, to proffer solutions that would boost our economy and strengthen our currency and not suggestions that would bastardise our economy and drive the naira’s value further down. And that salary increase at the moment will not help the economy.

The federal and state governments must also, as a matter of urgency, resuscitate moribund industries dotted across the landscape so as not to only galvanise production but to improve locally generated revenue. And because millions will get direct and indirect jobs if the moribund industries dotting all over the country become alive, the production of local materials will be boosted as there will be more buyers, leading to more employment.

Government, and here I mean the federal and state governments, must always be truthful and fair to the citizens. They must also make their agencies work. The government must let government function. In almost all cases, it is the government that makes government fail because the actors do everything from a prism of personal gain. Nothing about service anymore. Then there is the Nigerian syndrome of “Do you know who I am?”

I will give you an example. Just recently there was a furore that the Presidential Villa owed the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ₦923 million, the Nigerian Police owed ₦1.4 billion and the office of the Central Bank Governor, ₦1.6 billion. Put together, the federal government and its agencies were indebted to the tune of ₦47billion. And, you see, God save any AEDC official who tries to disconnect power from Villa, Police Headquarters or CBN.

But every year there is money for the payment of NEPA bills in the government and its agencies’ budgetary allocations, so why should the bills accumulate? If the power company has not been paid, where did the appropriated money go? Is the government here not strangulating the electricity company with its hand, yet every day we cry of epileptic power?

It is commendable that President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate payment of the Villa bill; however, is it enough without instituting an investigation into the failure of the Villa bureaucracy to pay its electricity bills despite budgetary provisions? This is the sort of thing that would make Nigerians sit up and take note. Otherwise, it is just the old system: sweep the sleaze under the carpet and let sleeping dogs lie.

Perhaps, because citizens, rightly or wrongly, think those in authority would naturally dip their hands into the treasury, and also scramble (as the Europeans scramble for Africa) over state resources, that is why some of them scramble over any resources close to them. Maybe this is why any warehouse they see, any trailer load of food that enters their ‘trap’, they pounce on it. And do you blame them when they refuse to pay NEPA bills?

Every day something new is trending. Yesterday it was budget padding; today it is “each senator got ₦500 million.” Who knows what tomorrow will bring? The citizens must feel that their interests are also part of the mix. That sense of belonging would automatically bring down the crime rate substantially.

Governance must be accorded the seriousness it deserves. When you go through our budget and the imputed figures, like a template across the MDAs, one would be forgiven to think that governance is a joke and budget implementation is akin to sharing the national cake within an anointed group.

Justice and fairness must permeate the land. No nation can rid itself of crime as long as its leadership does not go out of its way to give the people a sense of belonging and fairness, and its judiciary fails to give protection to the oppressed.

Therefore, leaders at the centre must be exemplary, which will make those in charge of other tiers of government follow suit. It is not enough for a leader to be mouthing platitudes while his actions go contrariwise. This is what is meant by “Change must begin with the leader” where the Brazilian lyricist and author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, said, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”

I will never get tired of hammering it - to all who care to listen - what Usman Dan Fodiyo wrote in his book, Bayan Wujub al-Hijrah alal ibad: that “the death of a thousand good men is not as tragic as having an unfit man in a position of national leadership and that “a kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.”

To ensure that justice is served, we must strengthen our legal and judicial systems. We need to reform our laws and improve the capacity and independence of our judges and lawyers. This will earn the system more respect and bring back the trust of the people that has been heavily eroded.

These, and more along this line, are the things our leaders must do to make our country the great nation it is meant to be. Every leader will be proud that under his watch we became a united people and forged ahead to become an industrialised nation.

To stitch the “merely geographical expression” that we currently have, therefore, is a task that must involve all of us. We do not have any other country to call ours. And we cannot afford to see the country put together by God through the British rendered asunder.

Another reason I always look at some Nigerians from the south and north who shout “Let Nigeria be divided” and shudder. Do they know what they are saying? Do they think that that is feasible anymore? Would it be beneficial to all concerned? We will look at this next.

** Hassan Gimba is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime.